Eyewear consists of items and accessories worn on or over the eyes, for fashion or adornment, protection against the environment, and to improve or enhance visual acuity. Common forms of eyewear include glasses (also called eyeglasses or spectacles), sunglasses, and the like. Eyewear can also include more utilitarian forms of eye protection, such as goggles. A standard eyewear article comprises a single lens or two lenses, a frame, and two temples. The temples are the arms that are placed over a wearer's ears and the hinges rotationally attach the frame to the temples.
One of the drawbacks associated with the conventional process for manufacturing eyewear is the large amount of manpower, tooling and fabrication involved. The conventional process for manufacturing eyewear typically involves the following. The temples are manufactured, often using an injection molding process or a metal stamping process. The frame is separately manufactured, also using an injection molding process or a metal stamping process. Then, the hinges are attached to the frame and temples, often using manpower, machining or some combination of the two. Lastly, the lens or lenses are attached to the frame, also often using manpower, machining or some combination of the two. Thus, there is a significant number and variation of steps involved in the conventional process for manufacturing eyewear. This can be costly, time consuming and tedious for manufacturers of eyewear.
Furthermore, conventional eyewear suffers certain drawbacks related to its constitution and its usage. Conventional eyewear is often made of standard, smooth plastic which has a tendency of slipping off a user's nose, especially when the user is sweating or has natural oils on his face. Also, conventional eyewear is known to scratch and break easily, as it is typically made of plastic and glass. Further, conventional eyewear is not known to be highly resistant to heat or cold, which limits its usability among individuals who require eyewear in their occupations, such as welders. Lastly, purchasers of conventional eyewear are stuck with the color and design of the purchased eyewear, which limits the versatility of its use for fashion purposes.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for improved eyewear and a more efficient way of manufacturing said improved eyewear.